This application relates generally to detecting and using presence information. More specifically, the disclosure provided herein relates to detecting presence using a presence sensor network and using the presence to provide a presence service.
Presence sensors are used for a variety of purposes. For example, some rudimentary types of presence sensors are used in manufacturing to prevent bodily injury by machine operators; automatic doors to trigger opening and/or closing of the doors; garage door openers to reverse the garage door if a child, animal, or other object is detected in the path of the garage door; vehicles to provide object sensors around a periphery or elsewhere in the vicinity of the vehicles; or the like. With the proliferation of intelligent devices and automation of various operations that until recently were completed manually, the use of presence technologies has become valuable for power conservation efforts, user authentication, personal safety, and/or other purposes.
Presence sensors can operate using a variety of technologies such as, for example, optical technologies, infrared technologies, temperature-based technologies, switches and/or other hardware technologies such as pressure devices, sound detection technologies, sonar technologies, combinations thereof, or the like. Some presence sensors are expensive and therefore may be used sparingly and/or deployed only in carefully selected locations and/or devices.
To provide benefits of presence sensors in large areas or other locations where deploying presence sensors may be cost-prohibitive, cameras and/or other video technologies may be relied upon. Thus, for example, a store manager, owner, or other entity may view a video feed of a store or other location to determine if any action needs to be taken. For example, a manager may monitor video to watch an area around a cash register or other point-of-sale to determine if additional points-of-sale should be opened, to monitor performance, or the like. Video, however, requires attention and/or interpretation to become useful and therefore may provide little, if any, improvement over in-person monitoring. Additionally, some customers may be opposed to being videoed by storeowners or other entities.